“Every year, Chris comes up with a blockbuster set of pictures. This
year it was the series of images from Tal Afar, which were just
stunning. Last year it was from Monrovia, of the rebel jumping in the
air with gunfire on a bridge,” said MichaelSargent,
vice president for news, sports, and entertainment at Getty Images.
“Chris is just a spectacular photographer. I’ve always liked his
photography, but he continues to blossom and develop, not just as a
photographer but as a journalist."

“He has a great passion for
all the stories he photographs, he gets close to the people, he cares
about them, he stays in touch with them," Sargent told News
Photographer magazine today. "For Chris, it’s not just about the
pictures. He has sincere feelings about the people who are his
subjects. He’s not just moving on to the next contest. He’s stayed in
touch with the little boy from the Tal Afar shooting, and with the
rebel in Monrovia too. He shot a portrait of that guy on the same
bridge this year, and his dreadlocks were gone, and he was wearing a
collared shirt, and the former rebel looked like any other regular guy.”

Hondros
has a busy schedule this spring, picking up the Capa Award on Thursday
night and then traveling to Amsterdam to receive his World Press Photo
honors.

In other Overseas Press Club photography honors, photojournalist RinaCastelnuovo of The New York Times was given the JohnFarberAward for the best photographic reporting from abroad in newspapers for a series called “Leaving Gaza.” MarcusBleasdale was honored with the OliverRebbotAward for best photographic reporting from abroad in magazines and books for "The Rape of a Nation.” And ChristopherMorris,
of the VII Photo Agency on assignment for Time/Asia, was given OPC's
Feature Photography Award for his essay "Inside the Hermit Kingdom."

The Overseas Press Club of America
Awards were founded in 1940 to recognize excellence in foreign coverage
in the categories of print, broadcast, and photography. BrianWilliams,
anchor of the NBC Nightly News, will be the awards presenter this year
at the organization’s annual dinner on April 20. OPC executive director
Sonya K. Fry says the club’s President’s Award will this year go to a special honoree, TedKoppel, formerly of Nightline.